Thursday, December 27, 2012

Nothing says, "Yay! It's party time!" quite like colorful bunting. The urge to spread the fun around led to the concept of bunting bombing which, like yarn bombing or seed bombing, is done with a certain amount of stealth and leaves a bit of beauty in its wake.

Bunting strung across window

The first step, however, is the fusing. Fusing plastic for art is different from the technique used to create sturdy, utilitarian objects like tote bags. To see how-to instructions for creating thinly layered, artfully composed fused plastic suitable for bunting, see Fused Plastic Chinese Lantern. When fusing plastic for bunting, you will want to be quite deliberate in placing colorful bits and pieces of plastic in an arrangement that will work well when the piece is cut up into bunting panels. Samples are offered below.

Sample of fused plastic bagging to be cut into bunting panels

Another sample

Once you've finished fusing, you'll want to cut the fused plastic into bunting panels. For the bunting shown in the photos above, two sizes were created based on a 2-inch by 3-inch pattern, or on a 3-inch by 5-inch pattern (the size of a standard index card). Decide on the size of your bunting and create a cardboard template for each of the three bunting shapes.

Place your bunting templates, arranging them over the most colorful areas of the fused plastic. Trace around them with a pencil and cut out your bunting panels. Fold the bunting panels over at the top, pressing firmly to create a crease. Reopen the crease, smear with glue using a glue stick, and fold the panel over a piece of string, pressing at crease line to secure panel to the string. Alternate shapes. Leave plenty of empty string at either end to allow flexibility in hanging and securing your bunting.

Now you're ready to bunting bomb. Below is the copy from a bunting bombing brochure I distributed over Christmas to a gang of bombers, along with strings of fused plastic bunting.